Miss Marple - Set 1 (Sleeping Murder / A Caribbean Mystery / The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side / 4:50 from Paddington)

Arrived in a timely manner. Product as described.

By: RevitAgatha Christie's, "Marple, The Classic Mysteries Collection" produced by BBC TV in association with A&E Television consists of five discs, each in an individual plastic folder, containing 9 feature length movies staring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Joan Hickson is by far the only real Miss Marple; she was selected by Agatha Christie and plays the part to perfection. Others have played the part, but regardless of their qualifications as actresses, none of them have surpassed the image of Miss Marple created by Joan Hickson.The 9 mysteries in this set include:A Caribbean Mystery (book publication date 1964). Miss Marple's generous nephew Raymond sponsored her vacation in St. Honore in the West Indies. While there she met a crippled irascible millionaire, Jason Rafiel, who would, after his death, get her involved in another case, Nemesis.The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side (1962). Marina Gregg, a famous movie star, and her husband have just purchased Gossington Hall from Dolly Bantry (The Body in the Library). They hosted the traditional benefit for a local hospital, during which the excitement and clamoring of the crowds masked the horror of the retribution for an unintended exposure to chicken pox that happened many, many years ago. Miss Marple quietly steps in to help.From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, The lady of Shallot:"The curse is come upon me," criedThe Lady of Shallot.Sleeping Murder (1976). Newlyweds search for a house and find one with more built in memories than they can handle. Miss Marple is called in to help and put things straight.Edmund Spencer's lines from The Faerie ueene:"Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please."4:50 From Paddington (1957); published in the U.S. as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw.Not long after leaving the Paddington Station the train that Mrs. McGillicuddy was riding on came parallel to another train on a parallel track traveling at the same speed. Mrs. McGillicuddy could not avoid seeing a man on the parallel train in a First Class compartment with his back to the window strangle a woman to death. She reported the incident to the Conductor on her train, to the station master at her destination and to Jane Marple.The Moving Finger (1943). Jerry Burton crashes a test plane and is recovering in a house rented in the quiet town of Lymstock with his sister Joanna. They receive a nasty anonymous letter, which harps on the sex theme. Several other villagers have received similar letters as well. Mrs. Dane Calthrop, the vicar's wife, sends a plea for help to her old friend Miss Marple.At Bertram's Hotel. (1965) In real life it was the Brown's hotel, in London at the corner of Dover and Albemarle streets, in the heart of the West End. Miss Marple is treated to a holiday at Bertram's by her nephew, Raymond. But there is an undercurrent of danger, crime and excitement in the air. Who could be financing and masterminding such a huge operation?Murder at the Vicarage (1930). The vicarage is situated in Miss Marple's home town, St. Mary Mead. The unpopular Colonel Protheroe is the magistrate and church warden. After considerable wrangling over the making of a nude painting by a artist who works in a small studio on the vicarage grounds, Colonel Protheroe is found murdered on the vicar's desk. Inspector Slack is called in; he and Miss Marple eventually weave the tangled threads of information into a solved murder.Nemesis (1971). In this year the eighty year old Agatha Christie was made a Dame of the British Empire. Jason Rafiel, whom she met on the island of St. Honore in the Caribbean reaches back from the grave, sends her on a bus trip, and gives her £20,000 pounds to solve a mystery.They Do It With Mirrors (1952). The story takes place in a large Victorian house, Stonygates, in the small English village of Market Kindle. The rambling mansion is owned by an old friend of Miss Marple, Carrie -Louise Serrocold and her third husband Lewis. The mystery is a bizarre mixture of an extended family life and a reformatory for young criminals where violence is just below the surface.These are all excellent, exciting movies, I love them all. I have five personal favorites which are: At Bertram's Hotel, The Moving Finger, 4:50 from Paddington, The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side, and Nemesis. Another of my favorites is The Body in the Library which is in another set of three discs, by BBC Video which I will review separately. If you want to have all of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple movies that have been released you must have both this set of nine mysteries and the other set of three mysteries labeled "Miss Marple, staring Joan Hickson". A complete collection of great British mystery movies must contain all of the published mysteries of Dame Agatha Christie's two great detectives, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

Excellent value for money are these faithful adaptations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novels. Faithful at least to the spirit and atmosphere of the books. 4.50 from Paddington was also published as What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw, and that was my favorite adaptation, although The Mirror Crack'd was very well done, too. Joan Hickson is very much Miss Marple, all faded and sloping bosomed,and wrinkly pink and white, not bustling and robust like the old Hollywood version which made me cringe.Very enjoyable civilised viewing for all anglophiles. One issue, A Caribbean Mystery is set in Barbados, where I live, and yes it still does look exactly as it does in the film, although set 4 decades ago.All the black actors except one are British(the priest at a funeral is Wendell Smith, a local actor with a terribly fake accent!)I've never heard or seen the ritual performed at the gravesite in Barbados, and Christie certainly never mentions it in her book. Otherwise these movies are very beautifully done, and very authentic in their portaryal of life (and death) in small enclosed societies, both British and Barbadian.Add these as companions to your Christie library.

I got the set from one of the resellers in good time and in the NEW quality as advertised. I just wish that somewhere in the reviews, someone would have mentioned that there are NO subtitles on the disks. Joan Hickson (Miss Marple) is one of my favorite actresses in this role, but she can be quite quiet and this makes it hard to hear what's she said, and this is irritating since it's usually one of the clues that is stumping Chief Inspector Slack.That's the only irritation I had with the set. All the episodes but for "At Bertram's Hotel" are fairly easy to view, but "Betram's Hotel" has a bit of color-change, something makes the images look tinged with sepia; the others are vivid and the image transfer is pretty good in my opinion.

I've only watched one movie so far but the discs looked brand-spanking-new. they were either used only maybe one time or never used it all but they're in fantastic condition.

I was familiar with all of these stories except MirrorCrack'd From Side to Side. This is the only story I did not like.The photography was awful and the script is unsettling. The directoris probably to blame for this . I liked all the rest very much.My favorites were At Bertram's Hotel. Nice to see Marple's sleuthingaway from her little village and an array of interesting characterskeeps her busy. Also, The Moving Finger. This story involves a brotherand sister who are newcomers to the village. They are drawn into the storywithout a clue. A nasty problem called poison pen letters are buzzinglike a mysterious bee hive that is stinging everyone. I won't give awaythe rest. Buy it! Very entertaining.

Love this series, wish there were more. Also love seeing stories with a range of types of people in terms of ages and looks even in historic settings; it's refreshing

Marple: The Classic Mysteries Collection (Caribbean Mystery / 4:50 from Paddington / Moving Finger / Nemesis / At Bertram's Hotel / Murder at Vicarage / Sleeping Murder / They Do It with Mirrors / Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side) The Joan Hickson Miss Marple collections that I bought through Amazon are outstanding -- except for the lack of Closed Captions (for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired). I am disappointed by this arrogant lapse, no doubt to save the producers money. The aging population is growing, and I am one of many loathe to purchase any DVD without captions. Please pass on this complaint to the producers of all Joan Hickson Miss Marple collections, and all DVDs in general. Thank you.

I find miss marple and Poirot interesting (hopeless at guessing but cool to hear them working it out)

I am not happy about this purchase its a shame

I bought this because all I had was a VHS of this movie. I bought it in good faith thinking that the movie was the same that I had on my VHS, when in fact it isn't. This to me is rather a disappointment.....When I played my VHS, it had all the scenes in it, but when I played my DVD of the same -- 'A Caribbean Mystery' it had a scene cut out of it and so I was really annoyed about that! I don't know who is responsible for making the DVD's from PAL to NTSC but it seems that like this and other DVD's (Inspector Lewis for example) have had scenes cut out of it so they are NOT the UNCUT version. At least when I remember watching this movie (A Caribbean Mystery) it had the scene of where she goes back into the outdoor dining room at the resort, with the knife still in her hand and she has blood all over her clothes. This is where in this DVD series, it is cut out. This is about a minute or so of scene cut out. As for the rest of the movies in this set with Joan Hickson, I hadn't seen them before so I can only assume that it is the same there too. Well, I am guessing regardless of our complaints that are made to A&E / PBS et al....there is nothing we can do about what these businesses do with the transfer or making of the DVD's. They will cut out scenes regardless of whether we approve of it or not. To end on a positive note, I still enjoyed watching these movies in spite of the way they were made. To me, she is still a good actor in this role, the story has an excellent plot and I can remember from what I have on my VHS what the scene was that was cut out. This is where in my mind, I just added the scene and continued on watching it. In spite of this mediocre report, I hope it helps you to decide whether or not to buy this set.

False advertising! There are no subtitles. I love the Joan Hickson Miss Marple series but since I have a hearing deficit, I prefer movies with subtitles. In its Amazon description, it says to have English subtitles but it does not.

No-one played Miss Marple better than Joan Hickson. The absolute best interpretation ever.